Feeding tube for butter serving machines



Feb. 16, 1954 s. A. THOMAS 2,669,020

FEEDING TUBE FOR BUTTER SERVING MACHINES Filed Feb. 27.1951

Fig.1

'INVENTOR, Sherman- A. Thomas AH'orney Patented Feb. 16, 1954 OFFICE FEEDING TUBE FOR BUTTER SERVING MACHINES Sherman A. Thomas, Rochester, N. Y.

Application February 27, 1951,'Serial No. 213,006

one pound brick or other large piece of butter into a suitable number of individual servings or portions of the kind commonly known as pats or patties. More specifically, the invention related to an improved feeding tube through which the large piece of butter is fed or forced as part of the process of forming it into pats.

An object of the present invention is the provision of an improved feeding tube, and especially a feeding tube which is more sanitary, and more satisfactory for other reasons, than the feeding tubes heretofore known.

Another object is the provision of a butter feeding tube of the type through which butter is forced by means of a piston or plunger, the feeding tube having means for anchoring the butter against reverse or retrograde motion in the tube when the piston or plunger is withdrawn, which anchoring means is so designed and constructed as to provide for flow of the butter substantially continuously along the side walls of the tube, when the piston is operating, thus eliminat-v ing danger '-of some of the butter IOdging for a considerable length of time in the tube.

Still'another object is the provision of a feeding tube so designed and constructed that it may be readily and easily cleaned.

A further object is the provision of butter anchoring means so designed and constructed as to avoid jamming against and damaging the butter feeding piston if the piston happens todescend toward the anchoring means in a cooked or tilted condition as occasionally happens.

These and other desirable objects are accomplished by the construction disclosed as an illustrative embodiment of the invention in the following description and in the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, in which:

Fig. l is a cross section taken centrally through a butter feeding tube in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing the piston and piston rod therein, the section being taken substantially on the line l-l of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken substantially on the line 22 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

The same reference numerals throughout the several views indicate the same parts.

This application is a continuation in part of the copending United States patent application of Sherman A. Thomas, Serial No. 671,067, filed ll/lay 20, 1946, now abandoned.

Since the present invention relates only to the construction of the feeding tube of a butter serving machine, the parts other than the feeding tube are not shown in the present drawings. For a disclosure of the construction of the other features of a machine adapted to use the improved feeding tube of the present invention, reference may be made to United States Patents Nos. 1,320,293, granted October 28, 1919, and 2,352,666, granted July 4, 1944, for inventions of Sherman A. Thomas. The feeding tube of the present invention is, however, not limited to use in a machine of the kind disclosed in said patents, but

may be used in any suitable type of butter serving machine.

In said Patent 2,352,666 the feeding tube is indicated by the numeral II, which numeral likewise indicates in general the feeding tube of the present invention. Mounted for reciprocating movement in this feeding tube is the usual piston l6 connected to the piston rod ll by the links 40, which parts may correspond to the parts bearing the same reference numerals in the disclosure of said prior patent. As will be readily understood from the disclosure of said patent, the piston and piston rod are removed from the feeding tube II, a large piece of butter is inserted in the feeding tube, and then the piston rod is forced downwardly, causing the butter to flow like a plastic mass out through the restricted discharge opening or mouth 52 at the bottom of the feeding tube, the butter being extruded therefrom in As may be understood perhaps even better from the earlier Patent 1,320,293, the'connection 49 between the piston l6 and the rod ll comprises a pair of links on opposite sides of the rod [1, these two links being shown at [9 in Fig. 3 of the drawings of the earlier patent, but only one link 49 shows in Fig. l of the present drawings because the second link is the same shape as and directly behind the first (when viewed as in Fig. 1) so is completely hidden thereby. At their upper ends, the links are pivoted to the rod by a pivot 22, and at their lower ends they are pivoted at 20 to a block Zl rigidly securedto or formed integrally with the rear or upper face of the piston it. These partsZB, 2!, and 22 correspond to the parts bearing the same reference numerals in said earlier Patent 1,320,293, and said earlier patent fully discloses the action of these parts in allowing the piston to swing or tilt at an angle to the piston rod, both for ease of entry into and withdrawal from the cylinder or tube, and for opening an air vent formed centrally in the piston.

The feeding tube itself may be of either square or circular cross section (regardless of the cross section of the mouth or discharge opening 52) depending upon whether the tube is intended to be loaded with the usual one pound bricks of butter, or whether it is intended to be loaded with round rolls of butter. In either event, the rod i? always maintains the same orientation relative to the tube or cylinder, so that the axes of the pivots 20 and 22 are always parallel to a certain imaginary fixed vertical plane, namely, a vertical plane containing the axes of the cover hinges 3 of said earlier Patents 1,320,293, or containing the axes of the cover hinges I of said later Patent 2,352,666.

When the piston 16 reaches the lower limit of its travel, it must be raised and removed from the feeding tube in order to load another supply of butter into the feeding tube. During this raising of the piston, it is highly desirable that the butter remaining in the lower part of the tube and in the discharge opening or mouth shall not stick to the piston and move upwardly with it, but shall remain in the lower part of the feeding tube so that the fresh supply of butter comes down on top of the remnant of the last previous supply. The tendency of the remnant of butter to stick to the bottom of the piston and to draw back upwardly with the piston, is greatly lessened by the opening of the air vent in the piston as disclosed in said earlier Patent 1,320,293, but in spite of the opening of this air vent, there is still a tendency at times for the butter to stick to the piston and to come up with the piston. In order to hold the remnant of butter more positively against upward or retrograde motion when the piston is raised, it has been proposed to employ a baffle in the form of a flange or ridge ex tending laterally inwardly from the side walls of the feeding tube near the lower end thereof, as shown in Figs. 1, 4, and of said earlier Patent 1,320,293 and in Figs. 4 and 5 of said later Patent 2,352,666. However, this bafile or flange as heretofore used has been solid, with the result that the space immediately below the baffle has been difficult of access for cleaning purposes, and has constituted a cavity or pocket to one side of the main path of flow of the butter, so that butter has sometimes remained in this cavity or pocket, instead of flowing on through the machine, with consequent danger of becoming rancid.

The present invention, on the contrary, provides improved anchoring means for holding the remnant of butter against retrograde motion, while at the same time being so designed that it does not form any side pockets or cavities in which butter may stay indefinitely. The anchoring means of the present invention does not confine the path of flow of the butter (as is done by the solid marginal flange illustrated in said prior patents) but subdivides the path of flow into a plurality of separate paths of flow as the butter passes the anchoring means or bafile means,

which paths of flow then merge once more with each other beyond the bafiie. Moreover, the baffie means or anchoring means of the present invention is so designed that it does not seriously or materially block the flow of butter along the main side walls of the feeding tube. Because of this absence of blocking flow along the side walls, the mass of butter alwaysfiows along the side walls when the piston is advancing, so that the butter flow constantly scours the side walls and all particles of butter are carried forward, leaving none remaining behind in stagnant condition.

The baffle in its preferred form comprises rods or thick wires it! extending transversely across the feeding tube near the lower end thereof, and

of any suitable number and spacing. Conveniently two rods parallel to each other are used, extending across from one side wall to the opposite side wall of the tube, and arranged parallel to the axes of the pivots 2E! and 22, with the ends of the rods set into recesses in the lower part Ha of the tube, which recesses are tightly filled around the rods by a filling N3 of solder or the like so as to leave no crevices or spaces in which bacteria may lodge. The lower section I Id of the tube is secured to the section II by suitable screws !65. It is seen that the rods IOI are spaced laterally from the other two side walls of the tube (that is, the two side Walls which do not support the rods) and as the butter is forced downwardly by the pressure of the piston, it flows around these rods which thus divide the flow into a plurality of paths which merge with each other after the rods are passed. The butter under the heavy pressures employed, flows like a plastic material, and coalesces or merges fully after passing the rods, so that the rods leave no split or defect in the butter as it issues from the mouth or dicharge orifice 52.

These rods 16! are preferably at such spacing from each other and are so located that when viewed in plan (as in Fig. 2) they extend across the outline of the butter discharge orifice 52, substantially inwardly from the outer edges thereof. This relationship is also seen from Fig. l, wherein the broken lines H2 represent upward projections or continuations of the side wall surfaces of the discharge orifice 52, and it is app-arent that the rods NH lie inside these lines H2. Thus if a plug of butter ends to rise up from the orifice 52 when the piston I6 is Withdrawn, the plug will be intersected by the rods I91, which will anchor the plug and not allow it to come up in an unimpeded fashion through the space between the rods.

The placing of the rods It! parallel to the axes of the pivots 2i and 22, has the important advantage that if the piston i3 accidentally comes down in a cooked or tilted position, the piston will not jam against the rods in a way to damage either the piston or the rods. The piston is intended, of course, to be positioned horizontally (as in Fig. 1) when it comes down, and when the piston is properly positioned, the rods NH lie a little below the extreme downward limit of motion of the piston, so that the piston does not contact with them. But occasionally, through faulty operation, the piston may be cooked or tilted at quite an angle as it travels downwardly, and in that event the lower edge of the piston may come down as far as or below the horizontal plane of the rods ml. If the rods are arranged parallel to the pivots 20 and 22, rather than being at some other orientation, it is found in practice that damage and interference are minimized. Depending upon the exact position to which the piston may happen to be cooked, the lower edge of the piston may come down between the two rods I01 without hitting either of them, or the sloping surface of the piston may engage gently with one of the rods (such sloping surface being parallel to the rod) and the pressure of the stationary rod against the descending piston will then tend to straighten or right the piston, without nicking or damaging either the rod or the piston.

It will be noted that the rods are placed sufficiently far from each other and from the walls of the butter chamber or tube, so that the rods may be readily cleaned. There are no cavities or small pockets formed by or associated with the anchoring means, which would be difilcult to clean. Hot water poured down through the butter tube will adequately reach all surfaces, and may be supplemented by the wiping action of a clean rag, if desired.

It is seen from the foregoing disclosure that the above mentioned objects of the invention are well fulfilled. It is to be understood that the foregoing disclosure is given by way of illustrative example only, rather than by way of limitation, and that without departing from the invention, the details may be varied within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Butter anchoring means for the outlet end of a butter feeding tube having a hopper portion and a delivery outlet at one end in a butter serving machine of the type including a piston movable in said feeding tube and a piston rod for moving said piston through part of the length of said tube, said piston being mounted to swing relative to said piston rod about a pivotal axis transverse to the length of the piston rod, characterized further by the provision of a pair of butter anchoring rods extending transversely centrally across said feeding tube and in one direction only so that they are approximately parallel to each other and to said pivotal axis, two opposite walls of the tube being entirely unobstructed all the way to the outlet and the other two opposite intermediate walls being obstructed only in the central region by the ends of the bars.

2. A butter serving machine comprising, in combination, a feeding tube having a piston-receiving portion of substantially uniform internal cross-section and an extruding nozzle portion connected to and axially alined with said piston-receiving portion, said nozzle portion having a rear end engaging and having substantially the same internal dimensions as the forward end of said piston-receiving portion and being internally tapered to a forward extruding end of reduced internal cross section as compared to that of said piston-receiving portion, a piston closely fitting the inner walls of said piston-receiving portion of said tube and adapted to press forwardly on a supply of butter within said tube and to force the butter forwardly through said nozzle portion, a piston rod mounted for axial reciprocation in said piston-receiving portion of said tube, link means pivotally connected near one end to said piston rod and pivotally connected near the other end to said piston near one lateral edge thereof, so that as said piston rod and piston are retracted rearwardly to open the tube for replenishment of the butter supply, said piston may swing relative to said tube and rod to reduce the risk that butter in said nozzle portion may stick to and be retracted with said piston, and means for anchoring butter in said nozzle portion of said tube, further to reduce th risk that said butter may stick to and be retracted with said piston, said anchoring means including at least one rigid.

anchoring rod extending transversely across said tube approximately at the junction of the pistonreceiving portion thereof with the nozzle portion thereof, said anchoring rod being secured at its end to opposite side walls of said tube, said anchoring rod except at its ends being substantially spaced from all lateral walls of said tube to allow substantially free flow of butter forwardly along the lateral walls of the tube under the influence of forward pressure exerted by said piston.

3. A construction as defined in claim 2, in which said anchoring rod is arranged substantially parallel to the axes of the pivots of said link means, so that if said piston is lying at an oblique angle to said piston rod as it reaches the vicinity of said anchoring rod, said anchoring rod will be substantially parallel and will tend to be contacted by a flat surface of said piston rather than by an advancing edge thereof.

4. A construction as defined in claim 2, in which the rear end of said nozzle portion of said tube is notched at two opposite side walls to receive the ends of said anchoring rod, and in which the forward end of said piston-receiving portion of said rod holds said rod in said notches.

SHERMAN A. THOMAS.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 276,326 Atkiss Apr. 24, 1883 1,065,186 Stewart June 17, 1913 1,069,591 Van Sant et a1 Aug. 5, 1913 1,320,293 Thomas Oct. 28, 1919 1,322,042 Nye Nov. 18, 1919 1,783,096 Pearce Nov. 25, 1930 2,352,666 Thomas July 4, 1944 

